The invention relates to a device and process for manufacturing a multi-step food product. This is applicable to manufacture of ice cream products, confectionery products, frozen foods, and decoration of baked goods.
Generally the device comprises a unique conveying member for carrying and transporting a plurality of holding members through the various product forming and processing stations or operations and facilitates relatively fast changeovers from one type product to another. More specifically, the device can be used for manufacture of a frozen confection or dessert generally in the form of an ice cream provided in a holding member such as a comestible shell or inedible receptacle for supporting or containing the product in a liquid, semisolid, semifrozen, viscous, solid, or frozen condition.
Frozen confections, desserts or products of this character have heretofore been made on production lines that generally include an endless conveyor having a supporting member with openings in the form of wires, apertures, or recesses that are designed to receive receptacles such as cones or shells or containers such as cups with the supporting member the carrying them through the various product forming, processing, cooling or freezing and packaging operations. The following patents illustrate representative devices and processes.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,729,206 discloses a typical endless conveyor having a generally horizontal upper run which includes plates having container receiving and supporting apertures for receiving and transporting containers for the product to be manufactured. As best shown in FIG. 2, the belt simply travels around a sprocketed drive but the apertures are particularly designed for the receipt of one particular product. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,228,267 and 5,918,765 illustrate similar conveyors having apertures for receiving and transporting cones or containers. For these devices, if a different size or shape product is to be made which requires the use of a different size aperture, these plates must be removed, causing significant manpower and downtime to make such a change. Of course, it is possible to utilize different conveyors for different products, but this requires duplication of the product forming stations, and this adds costs as well as excess capacity for most high speed production lines.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,188,768 discloses an endless belt conveyor that is used to transport shells through several stations at which method steps are performed in producing the frozen end product. The conveyor engages pairs of sprockets of conventional motive means that is controlled to provide a periodically interrupted or step-by-step movement and has links connected with cone-supporting plates or members. Each plate is provided with a planar portion equipped with members or fittings having openings for accommodating and supporting cone assemblies. Each plate has cone assembly conveyor mounting means in the form of depending portions with openings to loosely receive pins or rivets which join the links with the plates. This enables the operator to select a particular cone assembly for making one type product but in the event of product changeover, the operator need to stop the line and replace the mounting means to one having different openings to accommodate the different products. While the pins or rivets can be designed to try to expedite this operation, it still requires downtime and a temporary cessation of production to make the changeover.
In attempting to solve changeover problems, U.S. Pat. No. 5,322,432 discloses an endless conveyor formed with transverse rows of holes each adapted to receive a preform to be filled with ice cream or other edible substances from an upper filler assembly adapted to move intermittently synchronically with the conveyor during operation of the thereof. Under an upper run of such first endless conveyor, in the area at the filler assembly, is a second endless conveyor adapted to move synchronically with the first endless conveyor and carrying transverse rows of movable suction cups which in turn can be lifted up through an overlaying row of the holes for engaging and removing a respective preform from a dispenser station in the filler assembly before the preform is lowered onto the first endless conveyor while holding it in correct position during the subsequent filling operations. A wall portion is radially spaced around each hole to prevent displacement of filled preforms resting on the first endless conveyor but not fitting into the holes. This arrangement is intended to allow the same trays to be used in the conveyor not only for conical products of varying sizes, but also for flat-bottomed cup products of highly deviating shape, so as to avoid the need to convert or replace the trays when different size products are to be made. While this appears to be an improvement over the previous devices, it is more complicated in that the suction cups and the necessary vacuum lines to create suction must be provided and maintained during operation.
Typical commercial equipment for filing cups and cones include the Hoyer Vicking CL4 machine for cones and either the Hoyer Vicking CC4 or the Vasito Chamonix Fill & Cup for cups. Generally, these machines fill around 100 to 200 cones or cups per minute with machine efficiencies ranging from around 80 to 90%. When product changeover is required, however, approximately one shift (8 to 10 hours) is usually required to complete the changeover in equipment along with the attendant cleaning operation.
Thus, improvements in the conveying devices needed for receiving and transporting shell or receptacle holding members are needed and desired, especially to provide a more efficient and effective process to facilitate and expedite product changeovers, and these are now provided by the present invention.